What do YOU use to make drum tracks?

[muckypup1]

Well? I noticed just how awesome Goddamn Guitar's drum tracks are, I can never get my own to sound so real! And a lot of the dudes on here all get similar realistic and cool sounding drum tracks. So, I was wondering, do you use preset patterns like you get in Addictive Drums or something like Ez Drummer, or do you write your own drum tracks? and if you write them yourselves, what vst do you use to do this?

I've been writing my own drum tracks with guitar pro recently, and it just takes so fucking long

 

[Ganks]

Real drummers, real drums, close miced, sample replace.

Everytime.

 

[Damian B]

If I use midi drums I program them by hand. It takes a while but sounds a million times better than loops. Just keep practicing and you will get better at it.

 

[Jaymz]

I program them by hand. It takes a while but sounds a million times better than loops.

Same

 

[amarshism]

Program everything into guitar pro, then go through and edit the velocity of all the rolls and fills, then export as midi.

 

[Vandyn]

+1 for the guitar pro.

i can't do this without scores...

 

[Jinko17]

I edit presets (DFH). I find the closest thing to what I need and tweak.

 

[AdamWathan]

Real drummers, real drums, close miced, sample replace.

Everytime.

+1, easy to get them to sound real this way.

 

[AndrewPGlover]

Sequencing in guitar pro is awesome if you are the one writing the music. I really like being able to see the guitar notes to compare with the drum sequncing. The only problem is the velocity is always 100 when I import into Logic.

Whether I sequence in logic or in gp5 I generally will use the logic humanizing function on my cymbal tracks to make sure that they really breathe like real cymbals. I think that overall superior drummer tends to give a prety realistic sounding performance. Paying attention to velocities and other small details to be sure to make the drums sound believable.

 

[HandsOfDespair]

I play them on my keyboard except the kick if they're fast, and then I compress/limit my velocities when needed.

 

[theforgotten]

I edit presets (DFH). I find the closest thing to what I need and tweak.

Same here!

 

[AndrewPGlover]

Real drummers, real drums, close miced, sample replace.

Everytime.

are you talking close micing each cymbal so that you're sound replacing each one? I have considered doing this but I just think the bleed would be insane and that'd be difficult to spot each transient for the cymbals.

A lot of times I think that programming drums is quicker but when I'm dealig with the drummer of my band I would rather just have him play since he plays a ton of little intricate accents that take ages to place prfectly sequenicjng in piano roll.

Were hoping to record a couple singles before heading out throws this summer so I am trying to find the best way to effectively get his tracks down. If I get to record the singles I'll be extremely excited because I'd much rather self produce them than go to an other studio.

 

[abigor731]

i just place the notes in the daw

 

[departed]

are you talking close micing each cymbal so that you're sound replacing each one? I have considered doing this but I just think the bleed would be insane and that'd be difficult to spot each transient for the cymbals.

A lot of times I think that programming drums is quicker but when I'm dealig with the drummer of my band I would rather just have him play since he plays a ton of little intricate accents that take ages to place prfectly sequenicjng in piano roll.

Were hoping to record a couple singles before heading out throws this summer so I am trying to find the best way to effectively get his tracks down. If I get to record the singles I'll be extremely excited because I'd much rather self produce them than go to an other studio.

no, i doubt that would work well. just mic the cymbals and hi-hat, then replace the rest of the kit. I've yet to try this, I imagine you can run into a lot of problems doing this but it's worth a try.
if you dont want the hassle see if you can get hold of an e-kit and trigger
OR a number of guys on the forum offer reasonable prices to edit your tracks, so talk to someone about editing velocities to your track.
experiment until you find something you like and then stick with it!

good luck dude

 

[Seth Munson]

I do it all by hand. kick, snare, toms all snapped to the grid. copy paste copy paste. edit velocities. do all cymbals with midi

seems like a waste of time but works for me and I have learned to do it fast.
my midi gets wacky in PT8 and when i try to do too much it goes fucking nuts. so i keep it simple and only do the OHs midi

 

[Therion_Prime]

Roland TD-20 -> SD2

 

[muckypup1]

Real drummers, real drums, close miced, sample replace.

Everytime.

This would be the nicest option, but I am my one man band haha so I'm stuck with drum machines and midi

 

[muckypup1]

Sequencing in guitar pro is awesome if you are the one writing the music. I really like being able to see the guitar notes to compare with the drum sequncing. The only problem is the velocity is always 100 when I import into Logic.

Whether I sequence in logic or in gp5 I generally will use the logic humanizing function on my cymbal tracks to make sure that they really breathe like real cymbals. I think that overall superior drummer tends to give a prety realistic sounding performance. Paying attention to velocities and other small details to be sure to make the drums sound believable.

When I do my drum tracks with Guitar pro I always have to edit the velocity of each hit afterwards, but with reaper there is an auto velocity changer with helps!

 

[AndrewPGlover]

When I do my drum tracks with Guitar pro I always have to edit the velocity of each hit afterwards, but with reaper there is an auto velocity changer with helps!

Yeah it's easily done in Logic but it's still frustrating. Crescendos always seem to make the fader to haywire though. I'm unsure if that's an issue in any other DAW.

 

[Seth Munson]

Does PT8 have an auto velocity changer and I dont know about it?!